Almost all digital printing and image-display technologies rely on a technique known as raster image processing to produce images on a passive or active display medium, such as paper or an electronic screen. In this technique, a hardware or software module, called a raster image processor (RIP or RIP engine), converts vector image data (a geometrical form of image data that facilitates image storage and manipulation) to raster data. The raster data, also known as bit-map data or hardware-ready bits, allows a printer or display to render the image as a pattern of dots or pixels.
In recent years, it has become common, particularly in professional printshops, to use two or more RIPs to rasterize some types of print jobs. For example, some jobs are so large that two or more RIPs are used to reduce the time spent rasterizing and thereby increase production rates. Also, some jobs include two or more types of vector image data, with each type requiring its own specialized form of RIP to convert it to raster data.
In both these cases, the multiple RIPs, generally referred to collectively as a RIP pipeline, are controlled by a RIP manager. The RIP manager, which can take the form of a hardware or software module, receives the print job, divides it into two or more parts, and then assigns each part to a particular RIP for rasterizing. Each of the RIPs then works independently to rasterize its part of the print job, notifying the RIP manager when done and thus allowing the RIP manager to reassign the RIP to another print job.
One problem that the present inventors recognized with conventional RIPs is that they have limited communications capabilities. In some situations, such as dealing with external clients (that is, other users of the RIP), these limited capabilities effectively reduce the processing speed of the RIPs.
Accordingly, the present inventors identified a need for RIPs with improved communications.